Pa. bridge collapsed due to poor inspection, maintenance: report – By Mark Scolforo (Associated Press) / Feb 22, 2024
The city of Pittsburgh did not adequately maintain or repair a bridge and failed to act on inspection reports, leading to the corrosion of the structure’s steel legs and its collapse into a ravine, federal investigators said Wednesday.
The city-owned Forbes Avenue bridge fell down on Jan. 28, 2022, plunging a bus and four cars about 100 feet (30 meters) into the Fern Hollow Creek. Another vehicle drove off the east bridge abutment and landed on its roof. There were injuries but no one died.
After investigators presented their findings, three members of the National Transportation Safety Board agreed that poor inspections and insufficient oversight were among the probable causes of the collapse.
“The Fern Hollow Bridge collapse should never have happened,” NTSB chair Jennifer L. Homendy said, describing the incident as a wake-up call.
